Document FR 2 767 656 discloses a gaming chip in the form of a plaque, the body of which is obtained by cutting it in one piece from a planar sandwich construction formed from a stack of laminated or welded plastics material layers or sheets and has at least two layers which are provided with decoration over the faces thereof.
After the body has been cut out, the final shape of the chip is obtained by a thermoforming process which allows raised portions to be formed on the surface of the chip and, more generally, enables a satisfactory surface finish for the chip to be achieved, i.e. a surface finish of which the appearance and feel are such that they may be handled and stacked easily by croupiers.
It should be noted that the surface finish of the chip may also be a means for verifying the authenticity of the chip by a croupier who is used to handling these chips.
Obtaining a satisfactory surface finish for the chip is thus an important aspect in gaming chip production.
The production process disclosed in patent application FR 2 767 656 is long and costly since it is necessary for some operations to be carried out manually and it involves a number of steps including steps of cutting and thermoforming the chip to obtain a satisfactory general surface finish.
Document WO 2008/058322 describes a method of producing a chip comprising two plaques which are connected back-to-back.
According to the method described in this document, the two plaques are produced separately in a first step in the form of a transparent resin element, the rear face of which is covered with a decorative film fixed by an adhesive. The two stacks or plaques are thermoformed to form two half-shells with a satisfactory surface finish, optionally with raised portions on the outer face thereof, and complementary attachment means at the periphery thereof, except in one region.
In a second step, the two half-shells are laid one on top of the other, with an electronic identification device optionally being provided therebetween, by aligning said half-shells and fitting together the complementary attachment means thereof.
In this way, the two regions not provided with attachment means face one another and form a passage between the two half-shells through which the gap between the two facing faces of the two half-shells is filled with an adhesive material.
In order to obtain a chip with a clean and finished appearance, a final cutting operation is carried out to remove the plaque edges comprising the attachment means and the plaque edge region through which the connection material was injected.
As in the method described in application FR 2 767 656, the method described in application WO 2008/058322 comprises a number of steps, some of which require manual labour.
The object of the invention is to propose a method which is simpler to carry out, comprises fewer production steps, enables the operations requiring manual labour to be reduced as far as possible and enables chips having a surface finish of a better standard than that obtained by the known methods to be achieved.